


Out On the Deep Blue Waters

by MsDizzyDahlia



Category: Cartoon Therapy (Web Series), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Fem!Sides, Individual Chapter Warnings at the Start of Each Chapter, Mermaids, more tags to be added as the story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28982400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsDizzyDahlia/pseuds/MsDizzyDahlia
Summary: “Hey Lola?” Pamela asked, tapping her thigh with her finger. Lola looked up with a question in her eye and a slight smile on her lips. “Do you believe in mermaids?”Lola frowned, her brow furrowing. “No, I do not. The mere idea that they exist is ludicrous, and entirely illogical. The ocean is full of many things, but mermaids are not one of them.”~~~Pamela moves to a new town famous for its mermaid sightings. As a long time mermaid enthusiast, she's ecstatic. She quickly makes friends with another student and fellow ocean nerd, Lola Waller, who is as adorably awkward as she is intelligent. But Pamela isn't stupid, and it isn't long before she starts to notice something's up with her new friend. But it's whatever, Lola has a right to her privacy, and Pamela isn't going to snoop around about her private life.But as much as she tries to remain true to this statement, she quickly finds herself wrapped up in a mystery that somehow ties her best friend to the mysterious... things she keeps seeing out on the water.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 8
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, here we go, logicality slow burn fem mermaid au. This one is on the more lighthearted side, plenty of fluffy moments and very little angst.
> 
> No CW for this chapter, but if there is something you think I should tag let me know :)

Pamela was excited. Really, really excited. Which wasn’t particularly unusual for her, she was a very excitable girl. But today she was extra excited, and she had a good reason to be. Today her family was moving. 

Most kids weren’t usually too happy about moving, leaving their entire lives behind to go live somewhere else, but honestly, Pamela had been stuck in North Dakota for far too long. She was ready for the more tropical weather their new home promised to provide. 

Her older sister, Virgo, was less excited to go, mostly because unlike Pamela, she was not a big fan of hot weather. She loved the snow, it was as cold as her soul, she liked to joke, and as bright as Pam’s smile. So the fact that they were moving to a beachside town was not something she wanted to hear, despite the fact that Pamela knew several people who would do anything to switch places with her right now.

They were in the last stretch of summer, school was going to start up soon, and she would be going to start in a brand new school. It would be her first year of highschool too, so that was exciting. She was officially a highschooler.

Yeah, she was a little sad she was going to have to move away from her friends, but she was okay with that. She had traded numbers with all of them and made a giant group chat so they could stay in touch. She wasn’t under the belief she’d manage to keep up with all of them, but it was nice to know they were always just one text away if she needed them. 

Currently, they were at the airport, getting ready to board the plane, and as always, Virgo was on her headphones, listening to MCR and P!ATD because she was physically incapable of listening to anything that wasn’t considered “emo.” She was scrolling through something on her phone, looking like she was trying to avoid the situation she was in right now and pretend it wasn’t happening. Mom was impatiently tapping her foot on the ground and looking a little anxious and Dad was trying to comfort her.

Pamela looked up the name of the town they were moving to again, one that she had heard a few times before. Despite how small it was, and how few maps it was actually marked on, it was fairly well known for two things. One, it's team of marine biologists, said to be some of the best in the country. Two, the supposed merfolk sightings just off the shore.

Pamela  _ loved _ mermaids. As a little kid she had wanted to be one so badly. She tried to learn how to swim like them, how to breath like them, she wanted to be them. The Little Mermaid was the only movie she would watch, for years, and it was still her favorite. Her love of them was no longer quite so intense, but it was still there. Her phone background was a mermaid picture she found on deviantart. Her all time favorite stories were the ones that threw mermaids and sirens into the mix somehow. She was always up to date on the latest sightings, and had found a small community online that was like her, where she could discuss mermaids without worrying about being made fun of. 

So to be moving to a town with one of the biggest numbers of sightings in the US? Yeah, she was really excited. 

Her mother had family in the area and there was an open teaching position in the local university, so she had taken the job opportunity and decided to move. 

Their boarding group was called, and Pamela tugged on her sister’s sleeve, getting her attention and nodding her head towards the gate entrance. Virgo sighed and removed her headphones, which Pamela could hear was still playing music. 

“Come on, Virgo.” Their mother said, her tone gently scolding. “I know you aren’t too happy about this, but this opportunity was too good to pass up. This way we’ll be able to see your grandparents far more often, and the pay is better too. Your father has a job set up as well as a librarian. Maybe you could help him out there sometime if you’re worried about not having a quiet spot.” 

Virgo didn’t say anything, she just sighed again and started moving forward. Their mother sighed through her nose as they all started walking forward, quickly scanning their tickets before passing through into the passageway that led them to the airplane.

Pamela didn’t like planes that much. She much preferred boats, but a boat wasn’t exactly an option this time when they were going from North Dakota to California. They boarded the plane and walked down the narrow hallway between seats, already filling up with people. It felt cramped, and Pamela could tell Virgo was thinking the same thing.

Their father stopped in front of one of the rows of seats and lifted their carry-on luggage into the overhead bins. After making sure it was secure, they settled into their seats, and Pamela slid the seatbelt over her lap, clicking the buckle into place.

Running a hand through her thick dark brown hair, she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture, holding up a peace sign and sent it to her chat. Looking at it, she felt something settle within her. She was really here, and she was probably never going to see any of her friends again. The thought was a little sobering, and dampened her enthusiasm ever so slightly, but not nearly enough to smother it completely.

“Who’re you texting?” Virgo asked, leaning over and looking down at the screen.

“Hey!” Pamela pulled her phone away from her sister, scowling. “Can’t a girl have a bit of privacy around here?” 

“Mmmm…” Virgo tapped her chin, as if she were thinking about it. “No. Now who are you texting?” She repeated, with a shit eating grin on her face. 

“Just my friends. We made a group chat yesterday.” She smiled fondly down at her phone as she watched her friends react to the photo.

“Wish I’d thought to do that.” Virgo said, pulling out her own phone that had a purple phone case with a black spider web design. “The only people whose contacts I have saved are Sloane, Corbin, and Kai’s. Oh, and Elliot’s, they’re on here.” Her brow furrowed. “Actually, that’s really all I need. I wasn’t that close to anyone else.” 

“That’s kind of sad.” Pamela teased, giggling.

“Don’t laugh at my sadness.” Virgo said back. Pamela responded by sticking out her tongue. They glared at one another for about five seconds before they promptly burst into laughter, and went back to doing their own separate things. The mother was staring at them with a fondly exasperated expression, but neither of them cared to notice. 

Suddenly, the plane jolted and started moving forward, and the obligatory safety announcement came on over the speaker, telling them everything they needed to know in case of an emergency. Pamela reached over and squeezed her sister’s hand, knowing those kinds of announcements made her nervous by reminding her of all the things that could go wrong.

Virgo squeezed back, smiling appreciatively at her. The two of them looked a lot alike, but at the same time pretty different, the major difference being that Virgo was 5’ 4, and Pamela was 4’ 10. Somehow, Virgo got stuck with all the genes that made her average, while Pamela was nearing the end of her growth spurt, and still incredibly short. Other than that, they were pretty similar. They had the same olive skin and the same dark brown hair, though Virgo’s was a shade darker than Pam’s, and the same brown eyes. 

And while Virgo’s face shape was closer to their mom’s, with sharp and defined features and high cheekbones, Pamela’s was closer to their dad’s, a round head and all soft edges.

The safety announcement came to a close, and Pamela glanced out the window to see them getting lined up on the runway. Virgo’s grip on her hand became even tighter, and her sister closed her eyes, leaning back and biting the inside of her cheek.

Pamela was similarly nervous, but not to the same extent. She never got seasick, but for some reason planes always gave her a headache. The plane started speeding up, faster and faster, until it lifted off the ground, and she heard Virgo suck in a breath. Pamela started quietly counting out the 4-7-8 breathing pattern that they used in moments of panic. Virgo’s head twitched, the only indication that she heard anything, and after a few moments started breathing to the pattern.

Soon enough, the plane stabilized, and Virgo’s breathing returned to normal. She reached down to underneath her seat and pulled out her neck pillow, taking off her headphones and storing them safely in her bag. 

Wrapping the pillow around her neck, she leaned back, settled in her seat, and sighed. Within a few minutes, she had fallen asleep. Pamela raised the seat arm between them, and leaned over, resting her head on her sister’s shoulder. It wasn’t long before she too was fast asleep.

They slept through the entire plane ride, only waking when their mother gently shook them to inform them that the plane had landed, and they were getting off soon. Virgo looked relieved, and even Pamela was glad to know they’d be getting out of this cramped space soon. The plane soon came to a stop, and after a few more minutes, they were off. Pamela took the first steps in her new home in California, and felt a grin spread across her face. They were really here, weren’t they?

Virgo looked better than before, though she did immediately go back to listening to music, so Pamela couldn’t really tell what she was thinking. They collected their luggage, which took way longer than it probably should have because spotting their indistinct black suitcases in a sea of black suitcases was a pain, and stepped outside. A taxi was waiting for them, and they all got in, squishing together to make sure they all fit. It wasn’t the most comfortable situation, and Pamela felt her stomach sink knowing it was still going to be a few hours until they reached their new home. 

In the end, the drive was longer than the plane ride, taking almost three hours to get there. But when they finally arrived, Pamela felt the butterflies return. The town was beautiful, and Pamela did her best to look out through the windows when she was squished in the middle. From what she could see, the beach’s sand was practically white, the water was a deep, beautiful blue and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Palm trees lined the streets, and kids ran around on the sidewalks, enjoying the good weather. It looked like paradise to her.

They finally pulled to a stop in front of their new home, which had moving vans out front. They had sent their furniture a day ahead, so they must have only arrived a few hours before them at most. They all spilled out of the car, eager to get out, and Pamela sucked in a breath, enjoying the feel of the warm air around her. 

Their house was one of the closest to the beach in the neighborhood, less than a five minute’s walk away. How they managed to find this house in such a nice neighborhood, she would never know. 

Her father was unloading the suitcases out of the trunk, and she took a step towards the house. Her mother was unlocking the door, and Pamela tilted her head to the side, getting a good look at it. It was a sky blue, and Pamela could already imagine what Virgo might paint on the outside. Her sister was a big fan of painting on walls. It was a two story house, decently sized, yet still managing to carry that “beach hut” aesthetic.

She grabbed the handle of her suitcase, which she could tell was hers because of the seashell luggage tag, and dragged it towards the house. Grunting as she lifted it off the ground, she climbed the few stairs onto the front porch and set it down again. Jeez, she was out of shape. Not that she was in any mood to start exercising. 

She pulled the suitcase into the house, which had many windows that gave it an open feel. The inside walls were a pale mint green, and she smiled, brushing her hand along it. Her room was on the second floor, and she dreaded climbing the stairs with her suitcase. But it had to be done, so sighing, she lifted it up, and began the climb. 

It wasn’t that many stairs even, she was probably just being dramatic, but she was panting by the time she was at the top. What did she pack in this thing? Rocks? Rolling her eyes, she walked down the hall until she found the room where she was staying. The room was partially set up, with the big pieces of furniture like her bed frame and dresser placed against the walls and boxes stacked everywhere. The walls were the same blue color as the outside, and she had a big window, letting sunlight filter in.

She set the suitcase off to the side and opened one of the boxes, delighted to see that it was her stuffed animal collection. She took them out and set them all on the bed immediately, and by the end over half the bed was covered. She wasn’t going to move any of them though, she didn’t want to leave any of them out. 

Opening another box, she found a bunch of her sentimental stuff, mostly seashells and drawings Virgo had done for her over the years, but also a small music box. When you opened it, a tiny mermaid spun around as a gentle tinkling lullaby played. She had gotten it when she was a little kid and hadn’t been able to let it go since. She still listened to it sometimes when she had trouble sleeping.

She smiled at the memories each thing brought her, but she had yet to run into any of the things she was looking for. Like her books, or her lamp, or her fairy lights, because of course she needed fairy lights, who doesn’t need them, don’t be ridiculous  _ Virgo. _

That’s when she realized that the boxes were all actually labeled beyond “Pamela’s room.” The one she had just opened was marked as “sentimental value.” The one before that was marked “stuffed animals.” She searched through the boxes until she found the ones labeled “lights,” and opened it. It didn’t have her lamp, but it had her fairy lights, as well as a small sphere that projected the night sky onto her ceiling when the lights were off.

She went through several more boxes, unpacking books, posters, her seashell comforter for her bed, hygiene items, the rest of her wall decorations like garlands for hanging photos, and the little makeup and perfume she actually had. 

Then she dove into the boxes labeled fragile, where she pulled out her blue glass lamp, tiny glass bottles filled with sand, small seashells, and glittery sequins, and fragile glass figures, depicting all sorts of water related mythology. Huh, that was a lot of glass. Mermaids were her biggest obsession, but she also loved the stories of nymphs, gods and goddesses, kelpies, selkies, merrows, and just about every other water related mythological creature you can imagine. 

After everything was unpacked, she began the process of setting everything up the way she wanted it, books in her shelves, alarm clock and lamp on her nightstand, putting the sheets and bedspread on her bed, which took a while because she didn’t have the foresight to wait until her bed was made to put her stuffed animals on top of it, and setting everything else up on her dresser or in her new closet exactly where she wanted them.

All in all, it took at least an hour, probably more, but she was happy with the result. It already felt like home to her. She then went to take a look at what Virgo’s room looked like, and was not at all surprised to see that her sister had not done any unpacking, and had in fact laid face down on her bare mattress, put her headphones on, and started listening to music once more. Right now, she was blasting “Bring Me to Life” so loudly Pamela could hear it through the headphones.

Her sister’s room was a light lavender, brighter than Virgo usually liked it, but Pamela thought it was nice. She started opening boxes, taking out some of the stuff like books and setting up some of her posters. Virgo barely even took notice. Pamela laughed at her apathy and threw the bedsheets at her, causing Virgo to jolt upright and look around wildly before her eyes rested on Pamela, who was laughing so hard she was doubled over.

Virgo scowled and paused her music, throwing her headphones off. “You little shit.” She growled. “What the hell was that for?” 

“C’mon, you gotta unpack. All of my stuff’s already set up, you need to get your act together.” Pamela turned back to the boxes and opened another one.

“But I don’t  _ want _ to.” Virgo whined, flopping back down. “If it were up to me, I wouldn’t even be here. It’s too hot, I miss Dakota.” 

“Complaining about it isn’t going to make us move back.” Pamela pointed out. “Besides, your room has a ceiling fan, just turn that on and you’re good to go.” 

Virgo groaned and rolled over, while Pamela contemplated the pros and cons of throwing a paperback book at her. However, after a few seconds, her sister sat up, begrudgingly swung her legs over to the side of the bed, and stood up.

After that it wasn’t too difficult to get everything done, although Virgo called quits after only half of the boxes were unpacked and set up, saying that she was tired and she would finish the rest of it later.

“Maybe we can go down the beach and hang out for a little bit, since I know you’ve been just  _ dying _ to visit one. Play in the water a bit, you know, that kind of thing.” She said, leaning against the bed and bracing her hands on the edge of it. “Let’s see if we can find our swim stuff in the giant pile of boxes downstairs.”

Pamela’s face lit up, and she quickly agreed. They went downstairs and after only about five minutes of searching, they found the box they were looking for. They grabbed the swimsuits and beach towels, and only applied a thin layer of sunscreen, since they had never once gotten burned. After quickly shouting to their parents to tell them where they were going, they headed out.

It was less than a week before school started, so the beach was crowded with teenagers and kids alike, trying to enjoy the freedom while they still could. It was a bit hard to find a place to set their stuff down, but after they found one, they spent the rest of the afternoon splashing in the water. Or rather, Pamela splashed in the water while Virgo sat on her towel with a cardigan draped over her shoulders, a sunhat, and sunglasses, because she hated the sun almost as much as she hated wearing pastel clothing. She was basically a vampire. 

They didn’t have any beach toys, which was a shame because Pamela really would have liked to pour a bucket of water onto her sister, but as it was, the best she could do was try to hug her after fully submerging herself in the water. Virgo spent a good amount of time outrunning her soaking wet sister and screaming at her to stop chasing her.

The rest of the week went quickly, between helping her parents get everything unpacked and set up for the house, and preparing for school, it flew by, and next thing she knew, it was Sunday night, and tomorrow was going to be her first day of school.

And she was a little nervous, but mostly just excited. Virgo on the other hand was all nerves, and there was no soothing her. Pamela could understand, starting the first year highschool in a new town was bound to be easier than starting the last year of highschool in a new town. Virgo had been familiar with her old highschool, so abruptly switching to a new one couldn’t be easy for her.

Pamela was laying in bed, half asleep. It had only been a few days but Pamela had found she really liked their new home. The neighborhood was friendly, the beach was amazing, and the warm weather felt like heaven to her. She was sure that she’d settle into her new school easily, and her life was going to be better than ever. Her dad had said something about buying a boat, so maybe they could go out on the water next weekend. She was drifting in and out of consciousness at this point, and she smiled. Tomorrow was going to be a good day, she was sure of it.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that this first chapter is slow. I promise the next chapter will be a bit more interesting than this one


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pamela makes a new friend :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: None that I can think of! Let me know if I'm wrong though.

Pamela stepped off the bus and onto the sidewalk, and looked around the school grounds. They looked quite similar to her middle school, to be honest, with a green front lawn that students ran around on and a few separate but small buildings. It was smaller than the highschool in her old town though, and she could only imagine how small the elementary schools must be if this was the highschool.

She allowed herself a few moments to admire the place and take it all in, before she sucked in a breath and went straight to the front doors, not wanting to be late. Not that she was really worried about being late, but being early to classes did tend to leave a good impression on teachers. 

Besides, she had no idea how to get around this school and she wanted to be able to find her locker before the bell rang. She had received a map of the school, and had walked through the halls just a few days earlier to practice going from class to class, but she couldn’t be expected to remember everything.

She was so distracted by everything else that she didn’t even notice the person she was walking towards who was talking to another student until she bumped into them, and immediately took a few steps back. “Oh! Sorry!” It was a girl, who looked like she was probably a junior or senior. She had peachy skin, pink and blue ombre hair that was woven into two braids, wore a tan sweater and a pink skirt, and had a round pair of glasses sitting on her nose.

She smiled at Pamela cheerfully. “No worries. First day of school leaves everyone stressed and distracted. Freshman, right?” Pamela nodded, and the girl’s smile widened. “Cool! Need any help finding anything?”

“Oh uh… I dunno. I had a tour a couple days ago but I’m not sure if I remember where everything is.”

The girl nodded. “Well, that’s to be expected. It took me a while to memorize the layout of the school too. Even if it really isn’t that big, having multiple buildings is kind of confusing. I’m Emily. Show me your schedule, I’ll help you find your locker and first period class.” Emily held out her hand with her palm facing upwards, and Pamela gratefully dug out the paper with all of her classes on it and handed it to her. 

Emily adjusted her glasses and read through the schedule, then flipped over the paper to the other side where the map was printed. “Oh! You’re really lucky, your locker isn’t that far away from here. C’mon, I’ll show you.”

Emily led Pamela into the main building and to her locker. She waited patiently while Pamela got her things together as she worked out when she was going to have time to get back to her locker again and how many classes she would have to carry materials for at a time, and then showed her to Pamela’s first period class, even going so far as to circle all of the classrooms Pamela would be going to on the map and connecting drawing lines that showed the quickest route to and from each one before handing it back to her.

“Thank you so much.” Pamela said as she stared down at the paper, memorizing where each of them were. After another moment, she realized she had never properly introduced herself. “I’m Pamela.” She said, smiling up at the older girl.

Emily grinned “No problem! I’m a student mentor so it’s my job to help out the new kids. If you ever need help, I help out in the front office during break period, so you can always ask for me there. If I’m not there, chances are I’m either at the nurse’s office or the counselors’ offices.” 

She paused and looked at the name of the teacher hanging on top of the doorway. “I think my younger sister is actually in this class, you can’t miss her, she’s got a leather jacket, sunglasses, Starbucks coffee cup, and is probably already asleep. She sleeps like the dead, but she’s very friendly. Have a good first day!” Emily smiled at her before turning and walking back down the hall towards her own classroom, waving over her shoulder.

Pamela sighed and pushed open the door, looking around to see if Emily’s sister was actually here. It didn’t take long to spot her, because like Emily had said, she was hard to miss. There was a confident air about her, something about the lazy way she sat in her seat that just told people she was in charge and everyone knew it. Not to mention Pam didn’t know many people who chose to wear sunglasses indoors. 

She looked like her sister, same face shape, same skin tone, same hairstyle. They probably had done that on purpose. But her hair was a light brown, and had two bleached streaks at the front instead of an entire dyed head. 

Emily’s sister was near the back of the classroom, where not many other people were choosing to sit, scrolling through her phone without a care in the world. With no other idea on where to sit, Pamela walked over and slid in next to her.

The girl immediately turned to her, a smirk on her face. “‘Sup babe.” Babe? That was… a little strange. “You new to town?”

Pamela blinked at her, surprised. “How could you tell?” It wasn’t that obvious, was it?

The sunglasses girl laughed. “I know everyone who is anyone here. I didn’t recognize you from middle school or from around the neighborhood, so I figured you must be new.” She stuck out her hand. “Renae Picani.”

Pamela hesitantly shook it, and smiled. “Pamela Sanders.” After a moment, she added “I met your sister outside.”

“Nice. Did she say anything about me?” Renae lowered her sunglasses, peering over them to allow Pamela to look into her murky gray irises. 

“Um… no, not really. Just that I couldn’t miss you.” She smiled sheepishly. Renae laughed out loud, though Pamela didn’t see what was so funny.

“Well, I’ll take that as a compliment. Honestly, I’m glad that’s all she said. There’s a lot of rumors going around about me, you know. Some parts of it are more flattering than others. Not that anyone knows I know about them. Most people think that I can’t possibly be privy to  _ that _ gossip. But honestly, anyone who thinks they can hide a secret like that from me is a total idiot, I know just about everything about everyone.” Renae grinned, showing off a charming, easygoing smile that suggested she could smooth talk her way out of anything.

“Oh, well, that’s… cool, I guess.” Pamela wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about Renae right now. She seemed pretty nice, Emily’s assessment hadn’t been wrong when she had called her friendly, but her personality has thrown Pam off balance.

She hadn’t really known anyone like her personally before, though there had been a fair amount of gossips at her old school. None of them were like this from what she had seen of them though. She turned her head back towards the door absentmindedly, her rather poor excuse of a conversation with the other girl quickly fading into somewhat awkward silence that they both seemed content to ignore the awkwardness of.

Another girl walked in through the doors, and Pamela perked up slightly, tilting her head to the side and studying the newcomer. She had short black hair, cut in a slightly angled bob that reached just below her chin at its shortest. Her skin was pale and a bit pasty, as if she didn’t get out in the sun very often, with a band of freckles stretching across her face and dark eyes. On her face sat thick square framed glasses. 

The girl looked around the classroom, her eyes lingering on Pamela for a split second, probably curious about the new girl, before walking to the back of the room and taking the seat in the very back corner, only three or four desks away from Pamela. 

Pamela looked at her curiously. A few of the other students had stopped talking when she walked in to stare at her, which Pamela thought was a bit rude. They hadn’t reacted that way to any of the other new studentsWhat did she do to deserve that kind of treatment from the others? Who was she anyway?

“Hey Renae?” She asked, looking back at the other girl.

“Yeah babe?” Renae was scrolling through something on her phone once more, and she didn’t even look up at Pamela’s voice. 

“Who just came in?” She asked. Renae glanced up from her phone and caught her eye, raising an eyebrow. Pamela just nodded her head slightly in the direction of the girl.

Renae stared at her for a second before turning back to her phone. “Oh, you mean the nerd? That’s Lola Waller, she’s a loner, I’ve never really seen her hang around anyone else. I’m not sure why, she’s freaky smart, and knows a ton about the ocean. I guess some people are just kind of weirded out by that? I mean, she seems like a real nice girl, if a little closed off. I like her though, sarcasm and turns of phrases go completely over her head, but she’s still a lot of fun to talk to.”

Renae paused, and tilted her head to the side. “The few times we’ve been in a group together for a project she ended up carrying the entire team. But y’know, it’s whatever. I’ve invited her to sit with me at lunch before and she declined. Probably doesn’t like the kind of people I sit with.” She rested her chin on her hand.

“I’m going to go talk to her.” Pamela responded, still looking over at the other girl. Lola had just finished organizing all of her supplies on her desk and pulled out a rather thick book.

“Alright, go for it. Have fun.” Renae had seemingly lost interest in their conversation once more. Pamela stood up from her chair, feeling a little foolish when a few eyes turned to her curiously, and walked over to the other girl.

Lola looked up from her book as she approached, raising an eyebrow with slight suspicion. “Can I help you?” Her voice was monotone, a bit flat, and Pamela tried not to feel discouraged or intimidated already.

“Oh, well…” Pamela rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “I just wanted to say hi! I’m Pamela, I’m new to the town, as I’m sure you can tell. I saw you sitting by yourself and uh… thought you might want some company.” She slid into the desk next to Lola, tucking her hands between her thighs.

Lola considered her for a few moments, before offering her a polite smile. “Welcome to the town, Pamela. I’m Lola. I can assure you that I am not lonely, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m just not particularly interested in making friends, and most people seem to share the sentiment when it comes to me.” She went back to her book.

“Well that’s kind of sad.” Pamela frowned. Lola’s head jerked back up, and she blinked in surprise. “I mean, I know that I like making friends with as many people as possible, and I get that not all people want to have a big friend group, but I think that everyone should have at least one or two good friends. You know, someone to just hang out with. It can give you a reason to look forward to going to school, and it’s always nice to have someone to talk to when you feel like parents aren’t an option.”

Lola stared at her like she was speaking a foreign language. “That is… a surprisingly logical statement.” She said. Lola reached up and adjusted her glasses, looking a little surprised that the conversation had even gone on this long. “I suppose I hadn’t thought of it that way.” 

“So… wanna be friends?” Pamela leaned forward slightly, smiling. People always told her she had a very pretty smile, and she knew that smiling could make people happier, so she did it quite often. Lola looked like she had been thrown for a loop, like she had never had an interaction like this. There were a few seconds of silence where Pamela began to doubt if this would work. 

“I… um… sure?” Lola said, looking genuinely uncertain. Pamela’s smile widened, and she clasped her hands together.

“Great! Renae said that you know a lot about the ocean. I’ve always loved the ocean too, especially…” Pamela trailed off as the speaker overhead blared, and began the morning announcements. “Oh, I guess I should get back to my seat. Um… talk to you later!” Pamela moved back over to her seat and organized her supplies quickly, sending her new friend one last smile. Lola smiled back hesitantly, before they both turned their attention to the announcements.

The morning passed quickly, a blur of syllabuses and introductions that Pamela only half remembered. Oh well, she’d have time to get to know everyone else later. Before she knew it, it was lunch time, and she was standing on the front lawn, looking out over the students who milled about, some eating lunch alone and others just catching up with friends. 

This school didn’t have a cafeteria, and students were allowed to eat wherever they wanted, although bagged lunches were provided to those who didn’t pack their lunches. Pamela was at a complete loss on where to sit. She saw Renae hanging out with a couple of other kids, Emily not too far away, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready for that yet. Renae herself admitted that her friends could be a bit much. 

Emily’s friend group might be a bit less overwhelming, but they were all in older grades than her, and she felt like that would be awkward. She saw that Virgo was among them, and she caught her sister’s eye and waved. Virgo waved back and offered a thumbs up, and Pamela felt happy that at least Virgo seemed to have made a few friends.

There were a couple other students she recognized from her other classes, but she wasn’t sure if they would be okay with her coming over to sit with them. They already seemed to have their own friends, and she didn’t want to intrude on that. 

Finally, her eyes landed on a lone figure sitting under a tree, on one of the roots and leaning on the trunk, eating a sandwich with a decidedly disinterested expression. Lola. Pamela smiled and began walking towards her. It wasn’t long before Lola noticed her approaching, and raised an eyebrow that didn’t hide the barely concealed surprise on her face. Pamela waved at her.

When she arrived at the tree, she plopped down onto the grass and opened her lunchbox, which was decorated by a shiny fish scale pattern. She smiled at the other girl.

“Hello again.” Lola said after swallowing the bite of sandwich in her mouth. “How were your morning classes?” The look on her face suggested that that was not what she had wanted to say, and that she had many questions, but she thought it might be rude to ask them. Pamela decided not to comment on it. 

“Oh, they were pretty good.” She said instead. “Nothing really special though. What about you? Did anything interesting happen with you?” She pulled out a container filled with crackers.

“Not particularly.” Lola responded. “No surprises, I know everyone already and no one else came over to talk to me so…” She trailed off, and there were a few moments of awkward silence where neither of them spoke. Then Lola cleared her throat, and kept going. 

“Why are you sitting here?” She asked hesitantly. “Don’t you have any other friends who might want to sit with you? I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to hang out with them instead. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on that out of… pity or something.”

“No, not particularly.” Pamela replied, opening another container and popping a grape in her mouth. “I don’t mind hanging out with you, and it’s not out of pity, just so you know. You seem nice, and I did say we’re friends now.” She met Lola’s gaze, and frowned slightly. “Unless you don’t want me to eat with you. I can move somewhere else if you’re uncomfortable.”

Lola startled slightly. “U-uh, no, no, um, you can sit with me. I’m just surprised. I would have thought a social butterfly like yourself would have made friends with the entire grade by now.”

Pamela furrowed her brow. “How can you tell I’m a social butterfly? We just met today.”

Lola rolled her eyes. “You literally came up to the most antisocial person in quite possibly the entire school and made friends with them on your first day after talking to the school gossip, who probably filled you in on all the weird stuff everyone says about me. You’re clearly very extroverted and flourish under attention and probably like big crowds, so it makes very little sense that you’d want to hang out with someone who is just the opposite.” 

Pamela wrinkled her nose. “Renae didn’t tell me any weird stuff. She likes you. But… that is a fair point. I do like having a lot of friends.” She admitted. “But opposites attract I guess.” She paused, and tilted her head to the side. “I wouldn’t judge you based on rumors, you know.”

“I didn’t take you to be that kind of person, but you can’t always trust first impressions.” Lola shrugged, biting into her sandwich again.

Pamela shrugged too. “Rumors are a bad way to find out about people. They tend to be inaccurate and blown way out of proportion. I don’t partake in gossip and actually, I tend to avoid crowds. I’d rather have a few really close friends than a lot of not-so-close ones.” 

“Well, that is a fair assessment.” Lola conceded. The two of them ate in silence for a few minutes, but Pamela fidgeted a bit. In her old school she and her friends would talk about everything and nothing for hours on end, and she really liked to talk. And… well, this was her friend, so shouldn’t she try to get to know her?

“I know I said this before but… Renae also said that you know a lot about the oceans.” She spoke up. “Exactly how much do you know?”

“Well, what do you want to know?” Lola asked, raising an eyebrow. “Honestly, I feel sometimes as though I know everything there is.”

“Anything is cool.” Pamela laughed. “I really just don’t like silence.” She admitted, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“Well…” Lola looked thoughtful for a moment, as if considering what she wanted to say. “Coral reefs are very pretty, and honestly one of my favorite parts of the ocean. I’ve seen them in person a couple of times, the bright colors are absolutely gorgeous. There are over 2,500 different types of coral and about 8,000 different species of fish live in the reefs. There’s this kind of blue coral, I can’t remember the name right now, that’s my favorite. It fans out and has a lot of different branches, and the color is absolutely lovely. It’s a shame that so many reefs are dying. They do so much for the ocean and no one even seems to care about them.” She pushed her glasses up her nose. 

“Woah, that’s really cool.” Pamela breathed. “Yeah, coral reefs are really pretty, I’ve always wanted to see one in person, but haven’t really gotten a chance. I lived in North Dakota before I moved here, so we didn’t exactly have a lot of tropical weather. My parents bought a boat, I think, or maybe they’re still in the process of buying it? I’m not sure, but anyway, this weekend I’m gonna see if they can take me out on it. Do you think we might see any dolphins?”

Lola tilted her head to the side. “You might, they do tend to swim closer to the shore. I wouldn’t say it’s a definitive yes, though. They tend to change where they swim pretty frequently.” She went back to eating.

“Oh, okay, thanks.” She tapped her fingers on her thigh. “Hey Lola?” She asked, brushing her hand along the root of the tree. Lola looked up again, a question in her eyes and a slight smile on her lips. She was enjoying this conversation. “Do you believe in mermaids?”

Lola frowned, her brow furrowing. “No, I do not. The mere idea that they exist is ludicrous, and entirely illogical. It makes no sense scientifically whatsoever. It is simply an old tale sailors used to tell land dwellers, and maybe they even thought they saw one, but they didn’t. The ocean is full of many things, but mermaids are not one of them.”

Ouch, that stung a little. But whatever, she didn’t have to believe in them. Besides… “Don’t you mean an old…  _ fish tail _ ?” She grinned cheekily. 

Lola looked lost for a second, like she wasn’t sure what Pamela was saying, but the meaning seemed to catch up to her and she scowled. “Really? Puns?”

“Really. Puns.” Pamela laughed, rocking back and forth slightly. “Well… I believe in them. Kind of. I don’t know, there’s not enough evidence to prove they exist, but then again, there hasn’t been enough evidence to prove that they  _ don’t _ exist either, and over 80% of the oceans are still unexplored so…” She shrugged.

“Hm, I suppose that’s one way to think about it.” Lola replied. “But anyway, to me it doesn’t matter whether they exist or not, because there are so many other amazing creatures that live down there. If they really are hidden somewhere out there, perhaps it would be better if they were to stay hidden.” 

“Mmmmmmm… I guess you have a point.” Pamela conceded, and dropped it. She didn’t feel like getting into an argument with her new friend over something as silly as this. “So… what else do you know about the ocean?”

Lola’s face lit up, and she started ranting about marine trenches, making Pamela smile. She was really smart, Pamela didn’t understand how anyone  _ wouldn’t _ want to be her friend. She listened attentively to the other girl, completely captivated. There was something about the animated way Lola moved her hands, the way her face shifted from expression to expression, that made it so easy to listen. So easy to follow along with what she was saying despite the fact that they were delving into topics Pamela had never even touched on before.

At one point, Lola pulled out her phone and showed Pamela a video of dolphins gliding through an algae bloom. When the algae is disturbed, it lights up with this beautiful blue glow, making the dolphins appear bioluminescent. It was incredible.

Before either of them knew it, lunch was over, and they had to go back to their classes. Pamela did her best to focus on her teachers, but it was so boring! They weren’t even teaching anything, it was just the same introductions over and over again. Pamela found her mind drifting back over to her conversation with Lola. She was zoned out and unfocused the rest of the day, right up until the moment she got off the bus in front of her house.

Virgo placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her, snapping Pamela out of it somewhat. “Hey, are you okay? You’ve been distant, did something happen?”

Pamela blinked, shook her head slightly to clear it, and turned to look up at her sister. “Oh, no, today was great, actually. Sorry I was just… thinking.” She took Virgo’s hand and pulled her towards the house. “How was yours? I saw you hanging out with some other people at lunch today.”

“Oh um…” Virgo chewed her bottom lip. “I kind of just sat in the corner of my classes and waited for an extrovert to approach me first.” She shrugged. “There was this girl, Emily, who came up to me. She’s pretty nice.”

“Oh yeah, Emily Picani, right?” Pamela tilted her head to the side. Virgo nodded. “That’s who I saw you hanging out with. I met her. Her younger sister is in my first period. She’s… a bit much.”

Virgo laughed. “From what Emily was telling me, it sounds like it.” She pulled out the house key from her backpack and unlocked the door. “I’m guessing you don’t have any homework since it’s only the first day?”

Pamela shrugged. “Other than getting Mom and Dad to sign a million and a half different forms for all of my classes, yeah. What about you? Anything you have to do?”

Virgo shook her head. “I love the first day of school. No homework, and we won’t be getting into the actual material for at least a week. It’s great.”

Pamela laughed and agreed with her sister. She jogged up the stairs and threw her backpack onto the floor beside her desk, and flopped onto her bed. She had been right, today had been a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the story begins :D
> 
> Gosh, I am so excited for this story, it really brings out a childish part of me that I almost thought was long forgotten. 
> 
> Also, as for the video of the bioluminescent dolphins?
> 
> Here's a link if you want to check it out, it's really cool:
> 
> https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yg69Hbg1s88
> 
> Hopefully that link works for you guys, let me know if it doesn't.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, have a nice day <3


End file.
